Hybrid tomato variety 18m204 rz

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a Solanum lycopersicum seed designated 18M204 RZ. The present invention also relates to a Solanum lycopersicum plant produced by growing the 18M204 RZ seed. The invention further relates to methods for producing the tomato cultivar, represented by tomato variety 18M204 RZ.

RELATED APPLICATIONS AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/929,445 filed Nov. 1, 2019.

The foregoing applications, and all documents cited therein or duringtheir prosecution (“appln cited documents”) and all documents cited orreferenced in the appin cited documents, and all documents cited orreferenced herein (“herein cited documents”), and all documents cited orreferenced in herein cited documents, together with any manufacturer'sinstructions, descriptions, product specifications, and product sheetsfor any products mentioned herein or in any document incorporated byreference herein, are hereby incorporated herein by reference, and maybe employed in the practice of the invention. More specifically, allreferenced documents are incorporated by reference to the same extent asif each individual document was specifically and individually indicatedto be incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new hybrid tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) variety designated 18M204 RZ.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Tomato plants of the species Solanum lycopersicum belong to thenightshade family, also known as Solanaceae. Within this family it isnowadays grouped in the genus Solanum, which does not only harbortomato, but also the important food crops potato and eggplant. It is aperennial, herbaceous, flowering plant species which is native to SouthAmerica.

Other species that are related to tomato within the Solanum genus areSolanum pimpinellifolium, Solanum chilense, Solanum peruvianum andSolanum habrochaites. Although it is known that crossing can beconsiderably difficult, these species are used to obtain traits that arevaluable in growing tomato. In the recent history, advancement in tomatobreeding has lead to tomato varieties having, for example higher yield,higher disease resistance and increased shelf life.

Tomato plants are being cultivated worldwide for their highly nutritiousfruits. The tomato fruit is consumed in various ways, including raw, asan ingredient in many dishes and sauces, and in drinks. While it isbotanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable for culinary purposes.The fruit is rich in lycopene, which may have beneficial health effects.In 2009, the total acreage for both fresh and processing tomatoes in theUnited States was approximately 442,100 acres, with a total productionof about 14,141,920 tons (source: USDA).

Commercial vegetable production, including the production of tomato, isaffected by many conditions. The choice of the grower for a certainvariety is a determining factor, and forms the genetic basis for theresult that can be attained. In addition, there are many externalfactors that influence the outcome. Growing conditions like climate,soil, and the use of inputs like fertilizer play a major role. There arevarious ways of cultivating tomatoes, among which, the most common are:open field, greenhouse and shade house production. Although the speciescan be grown under a wide range of climatic conditions, it performs mostsuccessfully under dry and warm conditions. In addition to this, thepresence of pests and diseases also affects the total yield that can bereached.

In order to create tomato varieties that are satisfying the needs ofgrowers and/or consumers, many considerations have to be taken intoaccount. The goal is to combine within a single variety or hybrid animproved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasms.These traits may include higher yield, field performance, fruit andagronomic quality such as firmness, color, content in soluble solids,acidity and viscosity, resistance to diseases and insects, and toleranceto drought and heat. With mechanical harvesting of the tomato fruits forprocessing purpose, i.e., juice, paste, catsup, etc., uniformity ofplant characteristics such as germination, growth rate, maturity, andplant uniformity is also important.

Tomato is a simple diploid species with twelve pairs of chromosomes. Thecultivated tomato is self-fertile and almost exclusivelyself-pollinating. The tomato flowers are hermaphrodites. Tomatocultivars were initially open-pollinated, such as many well-knownheirloom tomatoes, but also varieties were developed for large scalegrowing facilities. Nowadays, especially in a professional growingsetting these cultivars are replaced by better yielding hybrids. Due toits wide dissemination and high value, tomato has been intensively bred.This explains why such a wide array of tomatoes are now available. Thesize may range from small to large, and there are cherry, plum, pear,standard, and beefsteak types. Tomatoes may be grouped by the amount oftime it takes for the plants to mature fruit for harvest; in general thecultivars are considered to be early, midseason or late-maturing.Tomatoes can also be grouped by the plant's growing habit, beingdeterminate or indeterminate. Determinate plants tend to grow theirfoliage first, then set flowers that mature into fruit if pollination issuccessful. All of the fruit tend to ripen on a plant at about the sametime. Indeterminate tomatoes start out by growing some foliage, thencontinue to produce foliage and flowers throughout the growing season.These plants will tend to have tomato fruit in different stages ofmaturity at any given time. More recent developments in tomato breedinghave led to a wider array of fruit color. In addition to the standardred ripe color, tomatoes can be creamy white, lime green, pink, yellow,golden, or orange.

Also breeding for multiple disease and pest resistances is an importantaspect in providing varieties for multiple growing systems and climates.These diseases can be the result of attacks of either nematodes,bacteria, fungi, viruses and/or insects. Important micro-organismscausing such diseases in tomato plants and their fruits in this respectinclude: Meloidogyne incognita (Mi), Verticillium dahliae race 0 (Vd),Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 0 (ex1) and race 1 (ex2)(Fol), Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis lycopersici (For), Cladosporiumfulvum groups A, B, C, D and E (Ff), Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV) strain0, 1 and 2, Stemphylium spp., Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) andOidium neolycopersici (On).

The way in which fruits from tomato plants are harvested is alsorelevant. When the fruits are not ripe at the same time, single harvestof fruits has to be applied in order to provide a fresh product to theconsumer. In the case that fruits of one truss are ripening synchronous,the whole truss can be harvested and be marketed. To support thisdevelopment, the interest for breeding of uniform ripening trusses hasincreased in the recent years.

Oidium neolycopersici is the causal agent of powdery mildew disease intomato. The lack of a sexual stage hampers the exact identification ofthis pathogen, but it is believed to belong to the Ascomycetes. Thefungus causes powdery white lesions on the adaxial tomato leaf surfaceand might also infect other abaxial surfaces, the petioles and thecalyx. The tomato fruit generally remains uninfected. Severe infectionof a tomato plant might result in premature senescence, leaf chlorosisand a marked reduction of the tomato fruit size. (Jones et al. Mol.Plant Pathol. 2(6), 303-309, 2001)

Silvering in tomato, also known as ‘chimera’ is a disorder that is notrelated to a disease caused by bacteria, viruses, insects or acombination thereof. It is called ‘head silvering’ when it affects theleaves that are formed in the shoot apical meristem of tomato plants.This disorder primarily affects tomato that is grown in protectedconditions, especially in northern latitude areas of production. Thewhite or silver color in the tissues of the leaves is caused by largeintracellular spaces which develop through an abnormal formation ofpalisade tissue of the leaf. This happens at a very early stage ofdevelopment. The main factor to positively and negatively influence thisphenomenon is a drastic decrease of temperature, especially at the levelof the shoot apical meristem. Silvering thus affects general plantcondition but might also result in deformed fruits, optionally showinggreenish to yellow streaks (Blancard et al. in Tomato Diseases:Identification, Biology and Control, Manson Publishing, 2012).

Citation or identification of any document in this application is not anadmission that such document is available as prior art to the presentinvention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a new tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)variety, designated 18M204 RZ.

The present invention provides seeds of tomato cultivar 18M204 RZ, whichhave been deposited on 18 Oct. 2020, with the National Collections ofIndustrial, Marine and Food Bacteria (NCIMB) in Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB219YA, Scotland, UK and have been assigned NCIMB Accession No. 43675.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a tomato plant designated18M204 RZ, representative seed of which have been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43675.

In one embodiment, the invention provides a tomato plant designated18M204 RZ, as well as seed from such a plant, plant parts of such aplant (such as those mentioned herein) and plants from such seed and/orprogeny of such a plant, advantageously progeny exhibiting the samemorphological and physiological characteristics as such a plant, each ofwhich is within the scope of the invention.

In one embodiment the invention relates to a tomato plant that hasgenetic material for exhibiting all of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of a plant of the invention. The geneticinformation for exhibiting all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics is as contained in a plant, representative seed of whichhaving been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there also is provided a partof a tomato plant of the invention, including a part of hybrid tomatovariety 18M204 RZ, wherein the plant part is involved in sexualreproduction, which includes, without limitation, a microspore, pollen,an ovary, an ovule, an embryo sac or an egg cell and/or wherein theplant part is suitable for vegetative reproduction, which includes,without limitation, a cutting, a root, a stem, a cell, or a protoplastand/or wherein the plant part is a tissue culture of regenerable cellsin which the cells or protoplasts of the tissue culture are derived froma tissue such as, for example and without limitation, a leaf, pollen, anembryo, a cotyledon, a hypocotyl, a meristematic cell, a root, a roottip, an anther, a flower, a seed or a stem. The plant of the inventionfrom which such a part may come includes those wherein representativeseed has been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675.

In another embodiment there is a plant grown from a seed, representativeseed of which having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675. Ina further embodiment there is a plant regenerated from anabove-described plant part, or regenerated from the above-describedtissue culture. Advantageously such a plant may have morphologicaland/or physiological characteristics of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZand/or of a plant grown from seed, representative seed of which havingbeen deposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43675—including withoutlimitation such plants having all of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ and/or of a plantgrown from seed, representative seed of which having been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43675. Accordingly, in still a furtherembodiment, there is provided a tomato plant having all of themorphological and physiological characteristics of hybrid tomato variety18M204 RZ, representative seed of which having been deposited underNCIMB Accession No. 43675. Such a plant may be grown from a seed,regenerated from an above-described plant part, or regenerated from theabove-described tissue culture. A tomato plant having all of theresistances and the characteristics recited and tabulated herein ispreferred. Parts of such a plant—such as those plant partsabove-mentioned—are encompassed by the invention.

In one embodiment, there is provided progeny of tomato cultivar 18M204RZ produced by sexual or vegetative reproduction, grown from a seed,regenerated from an above-described plant part, or regenerated from theabove-described tissue culture of the tomato cultivar or a progeny plantthereof, representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43675.

Progeny of the hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ may be modified in one ormore other characteristics, in which the modification is a result of,for example and without limitation, mutagenesis or transformation with atransgene.

In still another embodiment, the present invention provides progeny oftomato cultivar 18M204 RZ produced by sexual or vegetative reproduction,grown from a seed, regenerated from an above-described plant part, orregenerated from the above-described tissue culture of the tomatocultivar or a progeny plant thereof.

In one embodiment the invention relates to progeny of a tomato plant,wherein the progeny has genetic material which is as contained in aplant, representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. 43675.

In another embodiment the invention relates to a method of producing aninbred tomato plant derived from a plant of the invention of whichrepresentative seed has been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB43675, which may comprise of the steps: a) preparing a progeny plantderived from hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ by crossing a tomato plantdesignated 18M204, representative seed of which have been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. 43675 with itself or a second tomato plant; b)crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second tomato plant toproduce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; c) growinga progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed and crossingthe progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a secondtomato plant; and d) repeating step b) or c) for at least 3 moregenerations to produce an inbred tomato plant derived from the hybridtomato variety 18M204 RZ. The invention further encompasses an inbredplant produced by such method.

The invention even further relates to a method of producing tomatofruits which may comprise: (a) cultivating the hybrid tomato variety18M204 RZ, representative seed of which having been deposited underNCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43675, to produce fruits and; (b) harvestingtomato fruits from the plant. The invention further comprehends thefruit itself, optionally as part of a food product, optionally inprocessed or packed form.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to not encompass withinthe invention any previously known product, process of making theproduct, or method of using the product such that Applicants reserve theright and hereby disclose a disclaimer of any previously known product,process, or method. It is further noted that the invention does notintend to encompass within the scope of the invention any product,process, or making of the product or method of using the product, whichdoes not meet the written description and enablement requirements of theUSPTO (35 U. S.C. § 112, first paragraph) or the EPO (Article 83 of theEPC), such that Applicants reserve the right and hereby disclose adisclaimer of any previously described product, process of making theproduct, or method of using the product.

It is noted that in this disclosure and particularly in the claims,terms such as “comprises”, “comprised”, and “comprising” and the like(e.g., “includes”, “included”, “including”, “contains”, “contained”,“containing”, “has”, “had”, “having”, etc.) can have the meaningascribed to them in US Patent law, i.e., they are open ended terms. Forexample, any method that “comprises,” “has” or “includes” one or moresteps is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps and alsocovers other unlisted steps. Similarly, any plant that “comprises,”“has” or “includes” one or more traits is not limited to possessing onlythose one or more traits and covers other unlisted traits. Similarly,the terms “consists essentially of” and “consisting essentially of” havethe meaning ascribed to them in US Patent law, e.g., they allow forelements not explicitly recited, but exclude elements that are found inthe prior art or that affect a basic or novel characteristic of theinvention. See also MPEP § 2111.03. In addition, the term “about” isused to indicate that a value includes the standard deviation of errorfor the device or method being employed to determine the value.

These and other embodiments are disclosed or are obvious from andencompassed by the following Detailed Description.

Deposit

The Deposit with NCIMB Ltd, Ferguson Building, Craibstone Estate,Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA, UK, on Oct. 28, 2020, under depositaccession number NCIMB 43675 was made and accepted pursuant to the termsof the Budapest Treaty. Upon issuance of a patent, all restrictions uponthe deposit will be removed, and the deposit is intended to meet therequirements of 37 CFR §§ 1.801-1.809. The deposit will be irrevocablyand without restriction or condition released to the public upon theissuance of a patent and for the enforceable life of the patent. Thedeposit will be maintained in the depository for a period of 30 years,or 5 years after the last request, or for the effective life of thepatent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced if necessary duringthat period.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides methods and compositions relating to plants,seeds and derivatives of a new hybrid tomato variety herein referred toas hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ. 18M204 RZ is a hybrid plant varietythat is uniform and distinct from other such hybrids, and may be stablyproduced after a cycle of reproduction.

There are numerous steps in the development of any novel plant withdesirable characteristics. Selection of traits is a very importantaspect of plant breeding. Once desirable traits are identified, theplants with those desirable traits are crossed in order to recombine thedesirable traits and through selection, varieties or parent lines aredeveloped. The goal is to combine in a single variety or hybrid animproved combination of desirable traits from the parent plant orplants. These important traits may include but are not limited to higheryield, field performance, fruit and agronomic quality such as fruitshape, color and length, resistance to diseases and insects, andtolerance to drought and heat.

Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plantreproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and thetype of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F1 hybrid cultivar, purelinecultivar, etc.). Popular selection methods commonly include but are notlimited to pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, massselection, and recurrent selection.

The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method.Backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few favorable genescoding for a highly heritable trait into a desirable cultivar. Thisapproach is used extensively for breeding disease-resistant cultivars.Various recurrent selection techniques are used to improvequantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes. The use ofrecurrent selection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease ofpollination, the frequency of successful hybrids from each pollination,and the number of hybrid offspring from each successful cross.

The development of commercial tomato hybrids relates to the developmentof tomato parental lines, the crossing of these lines, and theevaluation of the crosses. Pedigree breeding and recurrent selectionbreeding methods are used to develop cultivars from breedingpopulations. Breeding programs combine desirable traits from two or morevarieties or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from whichlines are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. Thenew lines are crossed with other lines and the hybrids from thesecrosses are evaluated to determine which have the desirablecharacteristics.

Pedigree breeding is used commonly for the improvement and developmentof inbred lines of self-pollinating or cross-pollinating crops. Twoparents which possess favorable, complementary traits are crossed toproduce an F1. An F2 population is produced by selfing one or severalF1s or by intercrossing two F1s (sib mating). Selection of the bestindividuals is usually begun in the F2 population; then, beginning inthe F3, generally the best individuals in the best families areselected. Replicated testing of families, or hybrid combinationsinvolving individuals of these families, often follows in the F4generation to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits with lowheritability. At an advanced stage of inbreeding suitable lines are usedas parents to produce F1 hybrids, which are subsequently tested forpotential release as new varieties or cultivars.

Mass and recurrent selections may be used to improve populations ofeither self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variablepopulation of heterozygous individuals is either identified or createdby intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selectedbased on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellentcombining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a newpopulation in which further cycles of selection are continued.

Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for a simplyinherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivaror line that is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to betransferred is called the donor parent. The resulting plant is expectedto have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g. the cultivar orparent line) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.After the initial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype of thedonor parent for the preferred trait are selected and repeatedly crossed(backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant is expectedto have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g. the cultivar orparent line) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.

Other methods of breeding may also relate to the single-seed descentprocedure which refers to planting a segregating population, harvestinga sample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plantthe next generation. When the population has been advanced from the F2to the desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which lines arederived will each trace to different F2 individuals. The number ofplants in a population declines each generation due to failure of someseeds to germinate or some plants to produce at least one seed. As aresult, not all of the F2 plants originally sampled in the populationwill be represented by a progeny when generation advance is completed.

In addition to phenotypic observations, the genotype of a plant may alsobe examined. There are many laboratory-based techniques available forthe analysis, comparison and characterization of plant genotype; thesetechniques include but are not limited to Isozyme Electrophoresis,Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Randomly AmplifiedPolymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction(AP-PCR), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), Sequence CharacterizedAmplified Regions (SCARs), Amplified Fragment Length polymorphisms(AFLPs), Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs—which are also referred to asMicrosatellites), and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs). Nowadays,sequence-based methods are utilizing SNPs that are randomly distributedacross genomes as a common tool for genotyping (e.g. Elshire et al. PloSOne Vol. 6: e19379, 2011; Poland et al. PloS One Vol. 7: e32253; Truonget al. PloS One Vol. 7 number 5: e37565, 2012).

With any of the aforementioned genotyping techniques, polymorphisms maybe detected when the genotype and/or sequence of the plant of interestis compared to the genotype and/or sequence of one or more referenceplants. As used herein, the genotype and/or sequence of a referenceplant may be derived from, but is not limited to, any one of thefollowing: parental lines, closely related plant varieties or species,complete genome sequence of a related plant variety or species, or thede novo assembled genome sequence of one or more related plant varietiesor species.

Molecular markers, which include markers identified through the use oftechniques such as Isozyme Electrophoresis, RFLPs, RAPDs, AP-PCR, DAF,SCARs, AFLPs, SSRs, and SNPs, may be used in plant breeding. One use ofmolecular markers is Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) mapping. QTL mappingis the use of markers which are known to be closely linked to allelesthat have measurable effects on a quantitative trait. Selection in thebreeding process is based upon the accumulation of markers linked to thepositive effecting alleles and/or the elimination of the markers linkedto the negative effecting alleles from the plant's genome.

Molecular markers may also be used during the breeding process for theselection of qualitative traits. For example, markers closely linked toalleles or markers containing sequences within the actual alleles ofinterest may be used to select plants that contain the alleles ofinterest during a backcrossing breeding program. The markers may also beused to select toward the genome of the recurrent parent and against themarkers of the donor parent. This procedure attempts to minimize theamount of genome from the donor parent that remains in the selectedplants. It may also be used to reduce the number of crosses back to therecurrent parent needed in a backcrossing program. The use of molecularmarkers in the selection process is often called genetic marker enhancedselection or marker-assisted selection. Molecular markers may also beused to identify and exclude certain sources of germplasm as parentalvarieties or ancestors of a plant by providing a means of trackinggenetic profiles through crosses.

Mutation breeding is another method of introducing new traits intotomato varieties. Mutations that occur spontaneously or are artificiallyinduced may be useful sources of variability for a plant breeder. Thegoal of artificial mutagenesis is to increase the rate of mutation for adesired characteristic. Mutation rates may be increased by manydifferent means including temperature, long-term seed storage, tissueculture conditions, radiation (such as X-rays, Gamma rays, neutrons,Beta radiation, or ultraviolet radiation), chemical mutagens (such asbase analogs like 5-bromo-uracil), antibiotics, alkylating agents (suchas sulfur mustards, nitrogen mustards, epoxides, ethyleneamines,sulfates, sulfonates, sulfones, or lactones), azide, hydroxylamine,nitrous acid or acridines. Once a desired trait is observed throughmutagenesis the trait may then be incorporated into existing germplasmby traditional breeding techniques. Details of mutation breeding may befound in Principles of Cultivar Development by Fehr, MacmillanPublishing Company, 1993.

The production of doubled haploids may also be used for the developmentof homozygous lines in a breeding program. Doubled haploids are producedby the doubling of one set of chromosomes from a heterozygous plant toproduce a completely homozygous individual. For example, see Wan et al.,Theor. Appl. Genet., 77:889-892, 1989

The tomato plant of the invention may be arrived at through crossing ofinbred lines or through selection of the disclosed desirablecharacteristics by any of the breeding and selection methods mentionedabove.

Hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ is made from a cross between two uniformparent lines. The female parent is line PLT2011F. This line is an F6BC2selection from a cross between an old internal breeding line and a F1with code HT1408. All the crossings and the selection up to the F6generation is performed in Spain.

The male parent of this line is PLT2012M. It is an F11 developed throughcontinuous inbreeding of an old variety designated HT0709. The firstcross between PLT2011F and PLT2012M was made in Spain, and several yearsof testing and observation followed, also in Spain, leading to thehybrid designated code 18M204 RZ.

In one embodiment, a plant of the invention has all the morphologicaland physiological characteristics of tomato variety 18M204 RZ. Thesecharacteristics of a tomato plant of the invention, e.g. variety 18M204RZ, are summarized in Table 1. In Table 2 the main differences with acomparable publicly available variety are given, when grown under thesame conditions.

The information presented in Tables 1 and 2 was determined in trialexperiments in accordance with official Dutch plant variety registrationauthorities (Naktuinbouw).

The terminology and descriptors used by the Naktuinbouw, and accordinglyin Table 1, are in line with the descriptors of the “UPOV Guidelines forthe Conduct of Tests for Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability”, orthe “Test Guidelines” for Solanum lycopersicum. The “Test Guidelines”indicate reference varieties for the descriptors or characteristics thatare included in the list. Test guidelines for all crops may be accessedthrough the UPOV website, athttp://www.upov.int/test_guidelines/en/index.jsp. For tomato, the mostrecent English Test Guideline TG/44/11, including reference varieties,was updated in 2011 and 2013, and is accessible athttp://www.upov.int/edocs/tgdocs/en/tg044.pdf. The terminology anddescriptors used in these tables are in line with the officialterminology as of the filing date, and are thus clear for a personskilled in the art.

In addition the “Calibration book of Lycopersicon esculentumMill.—Tomato” (Version 1, NAKTuinbouw, 2010) provides even more detailedreference information on most of the characteristics that are includedin Table 1.

TABLE 1 Physiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomatovariety 18M204 RZ Variety description information for 18M204 RZ General:Type: Beefsteak Usage: Fresh market or garden Type of culture: StakedPlant: Growth type: Indeterminate Height: Long Leaf: Division of blade:Bipinnate Intensity of green color: Medium Peduncle Abscission layer:Present Fruit: Size: Large (220 g) Shape in longitudinal section:Circular Ribbing at peduncle end: Absent or very weak Number of locules:Four, five or six Green shoulder (before maturity) Absent Green stripes(before maturity) Absent Color (at maturity): Red Firmness Medium tofirm Time of maturity: Medium Shelf-life Medium (2, 5 weeks) Disease andpest resistances: Sensitivity to silvering Not tested Meloidogyneincognita (Mi) Intermediate resistant Verticillium sp. (Va and Vd) race0 Resistant Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 0 Resistant (ex1)(Fol) Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 1 Resistant (ex2) (Fol)Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis lycopersici Susceptible (For)Cladosporium fulvum (Ff) group A Resistant Cladosporium fulvum (Ff)group B Resistant Cladosporium fulvum (Ff) group C ResistantCladosporium fulvum (Ff) group D Resistant Cladosporium fulvum (Ff)group E Resistant Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV) strain 0 Resistant TomatoMosaic Virus (ToMV) strain 1 Resistant Tomato Mosaic Virus (ToMV) strain2 Resistant Stemphylium spp. Resistant Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV)Intermediate resistant Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV)Intermediate resistant Oidium neolycopersici (On) (ex Oidium Not testedlycopersicum (Ol))

TABLE 2 Differences in physiological and morphological characteristicsof 18M204 RZ with closest known variety Citlali. Characteristic 18M204RZ Citlali Cladosporium fulvum (Ff) group A Resistant SusceptibleCladosporium fulvum (Ff) group B Resistant Susceptible Cladosporiumfulvum (Ff) group C Resistant Susceptible Cladosporium fulvum (Ff) groupD Resistant Susceptible Cladosporium fulvum (Ff) group E ResistantSusceptible

In an embodiment, the invention relates to a tomato plant that has allthe morphological and physiological characteristics of the invention andhas acquired said characteristics by introduction of the geneticinformation that is responsible for the characteristics from a suitablesource, either by conventional breeding, or genetic modification, inparticular by cisgenesis or transgenesis. Cisgenesis is geneticmodification of plants with a natural gene, coding for an (agricultural)trait, from the crop plant itself or from a sexually compatible donorplant. Transgenesis is genetic modification of a plant with a gene froma non-crossable species or a synthetic gene.

Just as useful traits may be introduced into a hybrid by backcrossingthe trait into one or both parents, useful traits may be introduceddirectly into the plant of the invention, being a plant of hybrid tomatovariety 18M204 RZ, by genetic transformation techniques; and, suchplants of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ that have additional geneticinformation introduced into the genome or that express additional traitsby having the DNA coding therefore introduced into the genome viatransformation techniques, are within the ambit of the invention, aswell as uses of such plants, and the making of such plants.

Genetic transformation may therefore be used to insert a selectedtransgene into the plant of the invention, being a plant of hybridtomato variety 18M204 RZ or may, alternatively, be used for thepreparation of transgenes which may be introduced by backcrossing.Methods for the transformation of plants, including tomato, are wellknown to those of skill in the art.

Vectors used for the transformation of tomato cells are not limited solong as the vector may express an inserted DNA in the cells. Forexample, vectors which may comprise promoters for constitutive geneexpression in tomato cells (e.g., cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter)and promoters inducible by exogenous stimuli may be used. Examples ofsuitable vectors include pBI binary vector. The “tomato cell” into whichthe vector is to be introduced includes various forms of tomato cells,such as cultured cell suspensions, protoplasts, leaf sections, andcallus. A vector may be introduced into tomato cells by known methods,such as the polyethylene glycol method, polycation method,electroporation, Agrobacterium-mediated transfer, particle bombardmentand direct DNA uptake by protoplasts. To effect transformation byelectroporation, one may employ either friable tissues, such as asuspension culture of cells or embryogenic callus or alternatively onemay transform immature embryos or other organized tissue directly. Inthis technique, one would partially degrade the cell walls of the chosencells by exposing them to pectin-degrading enzymes (pectolyases) ormechanically wound tissues in a controlled manner.

A particularly efficient method for delivering transforming DNA segmentsto plant cells is microprojectile bombardment. In this method, particlesare coated with nucleic acids and delivered into cells by a propellingforce. Exemplary particles include those which may be comprised oftungsten, platinum, and preferably, gold. For the bombardment, cells insuspension are concentrated on filters or solid culture medium.Alternatively, immature embryos or other target cells may be arranged onsolid culture medium. The cells to be bombarded are positioned at anappropriate distance below the macroprojectile stopping plate. Anillustrative embodiment of a method for delivering DNA into plant cellsby acceleration is the Biolistics Particle Delivery System, which may beused to propel particles coated with DNA or cells through a screen, suchas a stainless steel or Nytex screen, onto a surface covered with targettomato cells. The screen disperses the particles so that they are notdelivered to the recipient cells in large aggregates. It is believedthat a screen intervening between the projectile apparatus and the cellsto be bombarded reduces the size of projectiles aggregate and maycontribute to a higher frequency of transformation by reducing thedamage inflicted on the recipient cells by projectiles that are toolarge. Microprojectile bombardment techniques are widely applicable, andmay be used to transform virtually any plant species, including a plantof tomato variety 18M204 RZ.

Agrobacterium-mediated transfer is another widely applicable system forintroducing gene loci into plant cells. An advantage of the technique isthat DNA may be introduced into whole plant tissues, thereby bypassingthe need for regeneration of an intact plant from a protoplast.Agrobacterium transformation vectors are capable of replication in E.coli as well as Agrobacterium, allowing for convenient manipulations.Moreover, advances in vectors for Agrobacterium-mediated gene transferhave improved the arrangement of genes and restriction sites in thevectors to facilitate the construction of vectors capable of expressingvarious polypeptide coding genes. The vectors have convenientmulti-linker regions flanked by a promoter and a polyadenylation sitefor direct expression of inserted polypeptide coding genes.Additionally, Agrobacterium containing both armed and disarmed Ti genesmay be used for transformation. In those plant strains whereAgrobacterium-mediated transformation is efficient, it is the method ofchoice because of the facile and defined nature of the gene locustransfer. The use of Agrobacterium-mediated plant integrating vectors tointroduce DNA into plant cells, including tomato plant cells, is wellknown in the art (See, e.g., U.S. Pats. No. 7,250,560 and 5,563,055).

Transformation of plant protoplasts also may be achieved using methodsbased on calcium phosphate precipitation, polyethylene glycol treatment,electroporation, and combinations of these treatments.

A number of promoters have utility for plant gene expression for anygene of interest including but not limited to selectable markers,scoreable markers, genes for pest tolerance, disease resistance,nutritional enhancements and any other gene of agronomic interest.Examples of constitutive promoters useful for tomato plant geneexpression include, but are not limited to, the cauliflower mosaic virus(CaMV) P-35S promoter, a tandemly duplicated version of the CaMV 35Spromoter, the enhanced 35S promoter (P-e35S), the nopaline synthasepromoter, the octopine synthase promoter, the figwort mosaic virus(P-FMV) promoter (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,619), an enhanced version ofthe FMV promoter (P-eFMV) where the promoter sequence of P-FMV isduplicated in tandem, the cauliflower mosaic virus 19S promoter, asugarcane bacilliform virus promoter, a commelina yellow mottle viruspromoter, the promoter for the thylakoid membrane proteins from spinach(psaD, psaF, psaE, PC, FNR, atpC, atpD, cab, rbcS) (see U.S. Pat. No.7,161,061), the CAB-1 promoter from spinach (see U.S. Pat No.7,663,027), the promoter from maize prolamin seed storage protein (seeU.S. Pat No. 7,119,255), and other plant DNA virus promoters known toexpress in plant cells. A variety of plant gene promoters that areregulated in response to environmental, hormonal, chemical, and/ordevelopmental signals may be used for expression of an operably linkedgene in plant cells, including promoters regulated by (1) heat, (2)light (e.g., pea rbcS-3A promoter, maize rbcS promoter, or chlorophylla/b-binding protein promoter), (3) hormones, such as abscisic acid, (4)wounding (e.g., wunl, or (5) chemicals such as methyl jasmonate,salicylic acid, or Safener. It may also be advantageous to employorgan-specific promoters.

Exemplary nucleic acids which may be introduced to the tomato variety ofthis invention include, for example, DNA sequences or genes from anotherspecies, or even genes or sequences which originate from or are presentin tomato species, but are incorporated into recipient cells by geneticengineering methods rather than classical reproduction or breedingtechniques. However, the term “exogenous” is also intended to refer togenes that are not normally present in the cell being transformed, orperhaps simply not present in the form, structure, etc., as found in thetransforming DNA segment or gene, or genes which are normally presentand that one desires to express in a manner that differs from thenatural expression pattern, e.g., to over-express. Thus, the term“exogenous” gene or DNA is intended to refer to any gene or DNA segmentthat is introduced into a recipient cell, regardless of whether asimilar gene may already be present in such a cell. The type of DNAincluded in the exogenous DNA may include DNA which is already presentin the plant cell, DNA from another plant, DNA from a differentorganism, or a DNA generated externally, such as a DNA sequencecontaining an antisense message of a gene, or a DNA sequence encoding asynthetic or modified version of a gene.

Many hundreds if not thousands of different genes are known and couldpotentially be introduced into a plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ.Non-limiting examples of particular genes and corresponding phenotypesone may choose to introduce into a tomato plant include one or moregenes for insect tolerance, pest tolerance such as genes for fungaldisease control, herbicide tolerance, and genes for quality improvementssuch as yield, nutritional enhancements, environmental or stresstolerances, or any desirable changes in plant physiology, growth,development, morphology or plant product(s).

Alternatively, the DNA coding sequences may affect these phenotypes byencoding a non-translatable RNA molecule that causes the targetedinhibition of expression of an endogenous gene, for example viaantisense- or cosuppression-mediated mechanisms. The RNA could also be acatalytic RNA molecule (i.e., a ribozyme) engineered to cleave a desiredendogenous mRNA product. Thus, any gene which produces a protein or mRNAwhich expresses a phenotype or morphology change of interest is usefulfor the practice of the present invention. (See also U.S. Pat. No.7,576,262, “Modified gene-silencing RNA and uses thereof”)

U.S. Pats. Nos. 7,230,158, 7,122,720, 7,081,363, 6,734,341, 6,503,732,6,392,121, 6,087,560, 5,981,181, 5,977,060, 5,608,146, 5,516,667, eachof which, and all documents cited therein are hereby incorporated hereinby reference, consistent with the above INCORPORATION BY REFERENCEsection, are additionally cited as examples of U.S. Patents that mayconcern transformed tomato and/or methods of transforming tomato ortomato plant cells, and techniques from these US Patents, as well aspromoters, vectors, etc., may be employed in the practice of thisinvention to introduce exogenous nucleic acid sequence(s) into a plantof tomato variety 18M204 RZ (or cells thereof), and exemplify someexogenous nucleic acid sequence(s) which may be introduced into a plantof tomato variety 18M204 RZ (or cells thereof) of the invention, as wellas techniques, promoters, vectors etc., to thereby obtain further plantsof tomato variety 18M204 RZ, plant parts and cells, seeds, otherpropagation material, harvestable parts of these plants, etc. of theinvention, e.g. tissue culture, including a cell or protoplast, such asan embryo, meristem, cotyledon, pollen, leaf, anther, root, root tip,pistil, flower, seed or stalk.

The invention further relates to propagation material for producingplants of the invention. Such propagation material may comprise interalia seeds of the claimed plant and parts of the plant that are involvedin sexual reproduction. Such parts are for example selected from thegroup consisting of seeds, microspores, pollen, ovaries, ovules, embryosacs and egg cells. In addition, the invention relates to propagationmaterial which may comprise parts of the plant that are suitable forvegetative reproduction, for example cuttings, roots, stems, cells,protoplasts.

According to a further aspect thereof the propagation material of theinvention may comprise a tissue culture of the claimed plant. The tissueculture may comprise regenerable cells. Such tissue culture may bederived from leaves, pollen, embryos, cotyledon, hypocotyls,meristematic cells, roots, root tips, anthers, flowers, seeds and stems.Tissue culture methodologies relating to tomato plants are well known inthe art (Girish-Chandel et al., Advances in Plant Sciences, 13: 1, 11-17(2000); Costa et al., Plant Cell Report, 19: 3 327-332 (2000); Plastiraet al., Acta Horticulturae, 447, 231-234 (1997); Zagorska et al., PlantCell Report, 17: 12 968-973 (1998); Asahura et al., Breeding Science,45: 455-459 (1995); Chen et al., Breeding Science, 44: 3, 257-262(1994); Patil et al., Plant and Tissue and Organ Culture, 36: 2, 255-258(1994). In vitro regeneration of Solanaceae cultivars is furtherdescribed in Schuelter A. R. et al. Genet. Mol. Res. 2009 Aug. 11;8(3):963-75, In vitro regeneration of cocona (Solanum sessiliflorum,Solanaceae) cultivars for commercial production.

In vitro flowering and fruiting for tomato is described in Rao et al. :J. Plant Physiol. 2005 August; 162(8):959-62. Induction of multipleshoots from leaf segments, in vitro-flowering and fruiting of a dwarftomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). Further aspects of in vitropropagation of tomato plant and related families are described in Zelceret al. Plant Cell Reports, 2(5), 252-254 (1983) Shoot regeneration inroot cultures of Solanaceae; S. Shrivastava, P. K. Dubey, Int. J. ofBiotechnology & Biochemistry, 3(1), 1-8 (2007) In-vitro callus inductionand shoot regeneration in Withania somnifera Dunal; R. P. Niedz et al.Plant Science 39(3), 199-204 (1985) Plant regeneration from leafprotoplasts of six tomato cultivars.

Various other aspects of tissue culture in tomato are described andsummarized in Bhatia et al. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 78(1),1-21 (2004) Tissue Culture Studies of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum).

Also, the invention comprehends methods for producing a seed of a 18M204RZ-derived tomato plant which may comprise (a) crossing a plant oftomato variety 18M204 RZ, representative seed of which having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43675, with itself or a secondtomato plant, and (b) whereby seed of a 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plantform (e.g., by allowing the plant from the cross to grow to produceseed). Such a method may further comprise (c) crossing a plant grownfrom 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed with itself or with a second tomatoplant to yield additional 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed, (d) growing theadditional 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed of step (c) to yield additional18M204 RZ-derived tomato plants, and (e) repeating the crossing andgrowing of steps (c) and (d) for an additional 3-10 generations tofurther generate 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plants. The invention alsoencompasses a 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plant or seed produced by suchmethod.

Backcrossing one of the parents of a hybrid may also be used to improvean inbred plant. Backcrossing transfers a specific desirable trait fromone inbred or non-inbred source to an inbred that lacks that trait. Thismay be accomplished, for example, by first crossing a superior inbred(A) (recurrent parent) to a donor inbred (non-recurrent parent), whichcarries the appropriate locus or loci for the trait in question. Theprogeny of this cross are then mated back to the superior recurrentparent (A) followed by selection in the resultant progeny for thedesired trait to be transferred from the non-recurrent parent. Afterfive or more backcross generations with selection for the desired trait,the progeny are heterozygous for loci controlling the characteristicbeing transferred, but are like the superior parent for most or almostall other loci. The last backcross generation would be selfed to givepure breeding progeny for the trait being transferred.

The invention also encompasses a method of introducing a desired traitinto a plant of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ which may comprise: (a)crossing a parent plant of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ, with asecond tomato plant that may comprise the desired trait to produce F1progeny; (b) selecting an F1 progeny that may comprise the desiredtrait; (c) crossing the selected F1 progeny with said parent plant oftomato variety 18M204 RZ, to produce backcross progeny and (d) selectingbackcross progeny which may comprise the desired trait and thephysiological and morphological characteristics of said parent plant oftomato variety 18M204 RZ, when grown in the same environmentalconditions.

The aforementioned method of introducing a desired trait into a plant ofhybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ could also further comprise (e)repeating steps (c) and (d) one or more times in succession to produceselected fourth or higher backcross progeny that may comprise thedesired trait and the physiological and morphological characteristics ofsaid parent plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ and (h) crossing thebackcrossed parent plant having the added desired trait with the otherparent plant to obtain a plant which may comprise the desired trait andall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of a plant oftomato variety 18M204 RZ.

The invention additionally provides a method of introducing a desiredtrait into a plant of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ by reversebreeding (See generally allowed U.S. application Ser. No. 10/487,468,published as 2006-0179498 A1), which may comprise the following steps:(a) allowing the hybrid tomato plant to produce haploid cells, whilesuppressing recombination, (b) growing haploid cells into diploidplants, (c) selecting those homozygous plants which together constitutethe hybrid variety of the invention as parent plants for the saidhybrid, (d) crossing one of the said parent plants with a plant havingthe desired trait, (e) crossing the selected F1 progeny with said parentplant, to produce backcross progeny; (f) selecting backcross progenywhich may comprise the desired trait and the physiological andmorphological characteristic of the parent plant; and, optionally, (g)repeating steps (e) and (f) one or more times in succession to produceselected fourth or higher backcross progeny that may comprise thedesired trait and all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of said parent plant, (h) crossing the backcrossedparent plant having the added desired trait with the other parent plantobtained after reverse breeding to obtain a plant which may comprise thedesired trait and all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of a plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ.

The invention further involves a method of determining the genotype of aplant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ, representative seed of which has beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43675, or a first generationprogeny thereof, which may comprise obtaining a sample of nucleic acidsfrom said plant and and comparing said nucleic acids to a sample ofnucleic acids obtained from a reference plant, and detecting a pluralityof polymorphisms between the two nucleic acid samples. This method mayadditionally comprise the step of storing the results of detecting theplurality of polymorphisms on a computer readable medium, ortransmitting the results of detecting the plurality of polymorphisms.The plurality of polymorphisms are indicative of and/or give rise to theexpression of the morphological and physiological characteristics oftomato variety 18M204 RZ.

The polymorphisms of this invention may be provided in a variety ofmediums to facilitate use, e.g. a database or computer readable medium,which may also contain descriptive annotations in a form that allows askilled artisan to examine or query the polymorphisms and obtain usefulinformation.

As used herein “database” refers to any representation of retrievablecollected data including computer files such as text files, databasefiles, spreadsheet files and image files, printed tabulations andgraphical representations and combinations of digital and image datacollections. In a preferred aspect of the invention, “database” refersto a memory system that may store computer searchable information.

As used herein, a “computer readable medium” refers to any medium thatmay be read and accessed directly by a computer. Such media include, butare not limited to: magnetic storage media, such as floppy discs, harddisc, storage medium and magnetic tape; optical storage media such asCD-ROM; electrical storage media such as RAM, DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, ROM;and PROMs (EPROM, EEPROM, Flash EPROM), and hybrids of these categoriessuch as magnetic/optical storage media. A skilled artisan may readilyappreciate how any of the presently known computer readable mediums maybe used to create a manufacture which may comprise computer readablemedium having recorded thereon a polymorphism of the present invention.

As used herein, “recorded” refers to the result of a process for storinginformation in a retrievable database or computer readable medium. Forinstance, a skilled artisan may readily adopt any of the presently knownmethods for recording information on computer readable medium togenerate media which may comprise the polymorphisms of the presentinvention. A variety of data storage structures are available to askilled artisan for creating a computer readable medium where the choiceof the data storage structure will generally be based on the meanschosen to access the stored information. In addition, a variety of dataprocessor programs and formats may be used to store the polymorphisms ofthe present invention on a computer readable medium.

The present invention further provides systems, particularlycomputer-based systems, which contain the polymorphisms describedherein. Such systems are designed to identify the polymorphisms of thisinvention. As used herein, “a computer-based system” refers to thehardware, software and memory used to analyze the polymorphisms. Askilled artisan may readily appreciate that any one of the currentlyavailable computer-based system are suitable for use in the presentinvention.

The invention is further described by the following numbered paragraphs:

1. A tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant designated 18M204 RZ,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. 43675.

2. The plant of paragraph 1, which is grown from seed having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675.

3. A seed of the plant of paragraph 1.

4. A seed that is capable of growing into the plant of paragraph 1.

5. A part of the plant of paragraph 1, wherein said part of the plant issuitable for sexual reproduction.

6. A part of the plant of paragraph 5, wherein said part comprises amicrospore, pollen, an ovary, an ovule, an embryo sac, or an egg cell.

7. A part of the plant of paragraph 1, wherein said part of the plant issuitable for vegetative reproduction.

8. A part as in paragraph 7, said part comprises a cutting, a root, astem, a cell, or a protoplast.

9. A tissue culture of regenerable cells from the tomato plant ofparagraph 1.

10. The cell or protoplast of paragraph 8 derived from a leaf, pollen,an embryo, a cotyledon, a hypocotyl, a meristematic cell, a root, a roottip, an anther, a flower, a seed, or a stem.

11. A method for producing a progeny plant of a tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) plant of paragraph 1, comprising crossing the plant ofparagraph 1 with itself or with another Solanum lycopersicum plant,harvesting the resultant seed, and growing said seed.

12. A progeny plant of a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant ofparagraph 1, wherein said progeny plant has genetic material forexhibiting the morphological and physiological characteristics as foundin tomato variety 18M204 RZ; wherein the genetic information is ascontained in a plant, representative seed of which having been depositedunder NCIMB Accession No. 43675.

13. A progeny of a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant of paragraph 1,having all the morphological and physiological characteristics of thetomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant of paragraph 1, representative seedof which having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675, whereinthe morphological and physiological characteristics are as found intomato variety 18M204 RZ, representative seed of which having beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675.

14. A progeny of a tomato plant as in paragraph 12 or paragraph 13,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. 43675, wherein the progeny is further modified in one or more othercharacteristics.

15. Progeny as in paragraph 14, wherein the modification is effected bymutagenesis.

16. Progeny as in paragraph 14, wherein the modification is effected bytransformation with a transgene.

17. A method of producing an inbred tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plantderived from hybrid tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ,comprising the steps:

a) preparing a progeny plant derived from hybrid tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ by crossing the plant of paragraph 1with itself or a second Solanum lycopersicum plant;

b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second Solanumlycopersicum plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration;

c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed andcrossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or asecond Solanum lycopersicum plant; and

d) repeating step b) or c) for at least 3 more generations to produce aninbred Solanum lycopersicum plant derived from the hybrid tomato(Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ.

18. An inbred tomato plant produced by the method of paragraph 17.

19. A method of producing a tomato fruit comprising: (a) obtaining aplant according to paragraph 1 or 2, wherein the plant has beencultivated to develop fruit; and (b) collecting a tomato fruit from theplant.

20. A fruit produced by the method of paragraph 17.

21. The fruit of paragraph 20, wherein the fruit is part of a foodproduct, optionally in processed form.

22. A method for producing a seed of a 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plantcomprising (a) crossing a plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. NCIMB 43675, with itself or a second tomato plant, and (b) wherebyseed of a 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plant forms.

23. The method of paragraph 22 further comprising (c) crossing a plantgrown from 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed with itself or with a secondtomato plant to yield additional 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed, (d)growing the additional 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed of step (c) toyield additional 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plants, and (e) repeating thecrossing and growing of steps (c) and (d) for an additional 3-10generations to generate further 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plants.

24. A method of introducing a desired trait into a parent plant ofhybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ comprising:

a) crossing a parent plant of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. 43675 with a second Solanum lycopersicum plant that comprises thedesired trait to produce F1 progeny;

(b) selecting an F1 progeny that comprises the desired trait;

(c) crossing the selected F1 progeny with said parent plant of tomatovariety 18M204 RZ, to produce backcross progeny and

(d) selecting backcross progeny comprising the desired trait and thephysiological and morphological characteristics of said parent plant oftomato variety 18M204 RZ, when grown in the same environmentalconditions.

25. The method of paragraph 24 further comprising: (e) repeating steps(c) and (d) one or more times in succession to produce selected fourthor higher backcross progeny that comprises the desired trait and all ofthe physiological and morphological characteristics of said parent plantof tomato variety 18M204 RZ, when grown in the same environmentalconditions.

26. The method of paragraph 24 wherein the parent plant is obtained byreverse breeding.

27. A method of determining the genotype of a plant of tomato variety18M204 RZ, representative seed of which has been deposited under NCIMBAccession No. NCIMB 43675, or a first generation progeny thereof,comprising obtaining a sample of nucleic acids from said plant andcomparing said nucleic acids to a sample of nucleic acids obtained froma reference plant, and detecting a plurality of polymorphisms betweenthe two nucleic acid samples, wherein the plurality of polymorphisms areindicative of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ and/orgive rise to the expression of any one or more, or all, of themorphological and physiological characteristics of tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ as in paragraph 1.

28. The method of paragraph 27 additionally comprising the step ofstoring the results of detecting the plurality of polymorphisms on acomputer readable medium, or transmitting the results of detecting theplurality of polymorphisms.

Having thus described in detail preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to belimited to particular details set forth in the above description as manyapparent variations thereof are possible without departing from thespirit or scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant designated18M204 RZ, representative seed of which having been deposited underNCIMB Accession No.
 43675. 2. The plant as claimed in claim 1, which isgrown from seed having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675.3. A seed of the plant of claim
 1. 4. A seed that is capable of growinginto the plant of claim
 1. 5. A tissue culture of regenerable cells orprotoplasts from the tomato plant of claim
 6. The tissue culture asclaimed in claim 5, wherein said generable cells or are derived from aleaf, pollen, an embryo, a cotyledon, a hypocotyl, a meristematic cell,a root, a root tip, an anther, a flower, a seed, or a stem.
 7. A methodfor producing a progeny plant of a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plantof claim 1, comprising crossing the plant of claim 1 with itself or withanother Solanum lycopersicum plant, harvesting the resultant seed, andgrowing said seed.
 8. A progeny of a tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plantof claim 1, having all the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plant of claim 1,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. 43675, wherein the morphological and physiological characteristicsare as found in tomato variety 18M204 RZ, representative seed of whichhaving been deposited under NCIMB Accession No.
 43675. 9. A progeny of atomato plant as claimed in claim 8, representative seed of which havingbeen deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 43675, wherein the progeny isfurther modified in one or more other characteristics.
 10. The progenyas claimed in claim 9, wherein the modification is effected bymutagenesis.
 11. The progeny as claimed in claim 9, wherein themodification is effected by transformation with a transgene.
 12. Amethod of producing an inbred tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plantderived from hybrid tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ,comprising the steps: a) preparing a progeny plant derived from hybridtomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ by crossing the plant ofclaim 1 with itself or a second Solanum lycopersicum plant; b) crossingthe progeny plant with itself or a second Solanum lycopersicum plant toproduce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; c) growinga progeny plant of a subsequent generation from said seed and crossingthe progeny plant of a subsequent generation with itself or a secondSolanum lycopersicum plant; and d) repeating step b) or c) for at least3 more generations to produce an inbred Solanum lycopersicum plantderived from the hybrid tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ.13. An inbred tomato plant produced by the method of claim
 12. 14. Amethod of producing a tomato fruit comprising: (a) obtaining a plantaccording to claim 1, wherein the plant has been cultivated to developfruit; and (b) collecting a tomato fruit from the plant.
 15. A fruitproduced by the method of claim
 12. 16. The fruit of claim 15, whereinthe fruit is part of a food product, optionally in processed form.
 17. Amethod for producing a seed of a 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plantcomprising (a) crossing a plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. NCIMB 43675, with itself or a second tomato plant, and (b) wherebyseed of a 18M204 RZ-derived tomato plant forms.
 18. The method of claim17 further comprising (c) crossing a plant grown from 18M204 RZ-derivedtomato seed with itself or with a second tomato plant to yieldadditional 18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed, (d) growing the additional18M204 RZ-derived tomato seed of step (c) to yield additional 18M204RZ-derived tomato plants, and (e) repeating the crossing and growing ofsteps (c) and (d) for an additional 3-10 generations to generate further18M204 RZ-derived tomato plants.
 19. A method of introducing a desiredtrait into a parent plant of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ comprising:a) crossing a parent plant of hybrid tomato variety 18M204 RZ,representative seed of which having been deposited under NCIMB AccessionNo. 43675 with a second Solanum lycopersicum plant that comprises thedesired trait to produce F1 progeny; (b) selecting an F1 progeny thatcomprises the desired trait; (c) crossing the selected F1 progeny withsaid parent plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ, to produce backcrossprogeny and (d) selecting backcross progeny comprising the desired traitand the physiological and morphological characteristics of said parentplant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ, when grown in the same environmentalconditions.
 20. The method of claim 19 further comprising: (e) repeatingsteps (c) and (d) one or more times in succession to produce selectedfourth or higher backcross progeny that comprises the desired trait andall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of saidparent plant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ, when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.
 21. A method of determining the genotype of aplant of tomato variety 18M204 RZ, representative seed of which has beendeposited under NCIMB Accession No. NCIMB 43675, or a first generationprogeny thereof, comprising obtaining a sample of nucleic acids fromsaid plant and comparing said nucleic acids to a sample of nucleic acidsobtained from a reference plant, and detecting a plurality ofpolymorphisms between the two nucleic acid samples, wherein theplurality of polymorphisms are indicative of tomato (Solanumlycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ and/or give rise to the expression ofany one or more, or all, of the morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) variety 18M204 RZ asclaimed in claim
 1. 22. The method of claim 21 additionally comprisingthe step of storing the results of detecting the plurality ofpolymorphisms on a computer readable medium, or transmitting the resultsof detecting the plurality of polymorphisms.